December 02, 2013

It's circle the wagons time for the Mavs

DALLAS -- With losses in four of their last five games, the Dallas Mavericks know exactly what time it is.

"There's adversity all the time, but when you lose four out of five it's time to circle the wagons and get it put together,'' coach Rick Carlisle said after Monday's practice. "Right now we've got to embrace the difficulties of this challenge.

"We've got some guys dinged up and not able to play. We've got to circle the wagons with the guys that are available and find a way to get it done.''

The Mavs are 10-8 and will host the Charlotte Bobcats at 7:30 Tuesday night at American Airlines Center. Forward Dirk Nowitzki just hopes the Mavs can snap out of their funk against a Bobcats' team that's only 8-10.

"Honestly in an 82-game season there is going to be some adversity,'' Nowitzki said. "No team is just going to roll through the regular season with nothing going on.''

Nowitzki then noted that this adversity the Mavs are experiencing could work in their favor down the road.

"Sometimes it’s good to go through some stuff and start fighting back from the bottom,'' he said. "Sometimes when you have a winning streak, or you win a bunch of games, some of the mistakes creep in and you ignore them because you say, 'Hey, we’re winning, we’re winning.’

"So it's a good time to start from the bottom and work our way up again.''